Saving device for image sharing, image sharing system, and image sharing method

ABSTRACT

The saving device for image sharing includes an image acquiring unit configured to acquire the images offered by a sharer of the images, a sharee information storing unit configured to store sharee information with respect to at least one sharee, a subject assessing unit configured to assess whether or not a person subject is included in the acquired images, an image associating unit configured to associate the images assessed as not including a person subject with the images assessed as including a person subject, based on the sharee information, and a shared image determining unit configured to determine the images to be shared with the sharee or sharees from among the associated images and the images assessed as including a person subject, based on the sharee information. The image sharing system and an image sharing method use such a device.

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.12/411,921, filed Mar. 26, 2009, which claims priority to JP2008-080447, filed Mar. 26, 2008, each of which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

The entire contents of documents cited in this specification areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a saving device for image sharing, suchas an image sharing server on a network, as well as an image sharingsystem and an image sharing method for classifying, saving, and sharingamong a plurality of users the image data on a plurality of imagesoffered by the sharer thereof, and more specifically to a saving devicefor image sharing such as an image sharing server, an image sharingsystem, and an image sharing method capable of automatically classifyinga group of images related to a subject from a large-volume image groupoffered by the sharer thereof, for instance, a large-volume image groupuploaded to a server on a network, and sharing the image data among aplurality of users depending on their personal preference.

In recent years, various image sharing systems configured to share amonga plurality of users image data uploaded to a server or the like by auser have been proposed. Among such systems, there have been proposedsystems configured to share images by extracting images of each user orimages related to each user from a plurality of uploaded image data, andtransmitting or enabling browsing of image data that satisfies specificconditions on a per user basis.

For example, with the image exchanging device and method described in JP2007-293399 A, a large volume of images are shared and exchanged among aplurality of users. In JP 2007-293399 A, a plurality of images aresubjected to face detection processing so as to extract those imageshaving a person as the subject, and the extracted images are thensubjected to face recognition processing based on face images of theusers registered in advance. The images are then automaticallyclassified on a per user (subject) basis, and the classified image dataare delivered to the delivery destination of each user. In addition, JP2007-293399 A describes a conventional method in which sharing of imagesis carried out by informing by e-mail and the like the URLs of thedestinations where digital images are stored.

Further, in JP 2003-150932 A, similar to JP 2007-293399 A, is describedan imaging processing device configured to perform face detectionprocessing on inputted images and, in a case where a face is detected,execute face recognition processing by comparing that face with faceimages registered in advance as reference images, searching for andextracting images of that same person. In JP 2003-150932 A, if a foundimage was photographed after a predetermined period of time has elapsedfrom the time the reference image was taken, the found image is updatedas the new reference image so as to ensure better searches.

Furthermore, in JP 2005-174308 A is described a method and apparatus fororganizing digital media by face recognition. In JP 2005-174308 A, aplurality of image data (digital photographs) is extracted andclassified based on categories such as date, event, location, people,etc., so as to organize the image data and enable browsing. For example,when “people” is selected as the category, the image data is subjectedto face detection processing and face recognition processing to beclassified on a per person subject basis.

In JP 2007-272719 A, it is described that the photographic processingapparatuses provided in different shops and networked with one anothernotify one another of registered information including the name (ID) ofa taken-image file and shop information (position information (IPaddress) of a photographic processing apparatus on a network) as well asthumbnail images through a network, and a peer-to-peer transfer of ataken-image file is carried out from one photographic processingapparatus to another, based on the registered information, so as toacquire the taken-image file.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in the above-described JP 2007-293399 A, and JP 2003-150932 A,all image data are classified by face detection. Although this makes itpossible to classify the image data that include a person, images thatdo not include a person, such as in a case where the subject is a plantor scenery cannot be classified, making it impossible to share suchimages among users.

Further, in JP 2005-174308 A, although images that do not include a facecan also be classified when the images are classified based oncategories such as date, event, or location, classification is alwaysperformed based on date, event, photographed location, etc., making itimpossible to classify images for image sharing in accordance with eachuser, such as in accordance with the images related to the user or inaccordance with the preferred images of the user, who is the sharee.

Furthermore, in conventional methods, the classified image data isdelivered as is to the user who is the sharee, resulting in the problemthat, in a case where there is a large volume of image data, the userwho is to receive the images feels inconvenienced when browsing ororganizing the images.

In the conventional method described in JP 2007-293399 A, theinformation to be given with respect to the image sharing includes onlythe information that an image has been shared (information given bye-male), the way of getting access to the shared image (URL path,password), and so forth. Accordingly, different sharees may be notifiedof the same information, and each sharee has to follow the path to thelocations of shared images in order to ascertain what images have beenshared in what amount (number).

The method disclosed in JP 2007-272719 A does not avoid problems either.If the registered information includes the ID of the taken-image fileand the IP address but no thumbnail images, it cannot be ascertainedwhat images have been shared in what amount (number) unless the shareegets access to the photographic processing apparatus storing thetaken-image file by using the IP address, and opens the taken-image fileby using the ID. If the registered information includes thumbnailimages, it cannot be ascertained yet what images have been shared inwhat amount (number) unless all the thumbnail images are browsed. In thecase of the photographic processing apparatus disclosed in JP2007-272719 A, the quantity of the information of which one apparatusnotifies another apparatus sharing images with it can be large, with theregistered information being capable of including thumbnail images. Thisfeature, however, cannot be applied to cellular phones and so forth withsmaller capacities and, even if applicable, an increased number ofthumbnail images will be hard to download.

It is therefore a first object of the present invention to solve theabove-described problems of prior art and provide a saving device forimage sharing, such as an image sharing server, as well as an imagesharing system and an image sharing method capable of simply andautomatically classifying a large volume of image data offered by thesharer thereof, such as uploaded to a server on a network, even if theimage data includes image data without images of a person, and sharingassociated images and preferred images on a per user (sharee) basis.

Furthermore, it is a second object of the present invention to provide asaving device for image sharing, an image sharing system and an imagesharing method capable of sharing image data in a format that is easy touse by the user who is the sharee.

It is a third object of the present invention to provide a saving devicefor image sharing, an image sharing system and an image sharing methodcapable of notifying, upon sharing of an image or album (image data),about additional information specific to the user as a sharee, such asinformation in which the sharee has interest and image information.

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides asaving device for image sharing in which images offered by a sharer ofthe images for image sharing can be saved and accessibly shared among atleast one sharee, comprising: an image acquiring means configured toacquire the images offered by the sharer; a sharee information storingmeans configured to store sharee information with respect to the atleast one sharee; a subject assessing means configured to assess whetheror not a person subject is included in the images acquired by the imageacquiring means; an image associating means configured to associateimages assessed as not including a person subject by the subjectassessing means, with images assessed as including a person subject,based on the sharee information; and a shared image determining meansconfigured to determine images to be shared with the at least one shareefrom among the images associated by the image associating means and theimages assessed as including a person subject by the subject assessingmeans, based on the sharee information.

Preferably, the subject assessing means further classifies the imagesassessed as including a person subject for each person subject andextracts them as included in identical subject groups.

It is also preferable that the sharee information includes a face image,and the subject assessing means identifies a person subject based on animage in one of the identical subject groups and the face image of thesharee information.

It is desirable that the subject assessing means automaticallydetermines and maintains as the sharee information a level with respectto the identified person subject based on identification results of theperson subject.

The saving device for image sharing of the present invention preferablycomprises a sharing rule storing means configured to store sharing ruleswhich are conditions for determining images to be shared with the atleast one sharee. In that case, the shared image determining meansdetermines the images to be shared based on the sharee information andthe sharing rules.

The sharing rules are preferably registered or updated by the at leastone sharer of the images to be shared.

Preferably, the saving device for image sharing of the present inventioncomprises a sharing information creating means configured toautomatically create sharing information to be transmitted to the atleast one sharee, based on the images to be shared and the shareeinformation.

The sharing information preferably includes a shared page in which theshared images are laid out in an album format, and access informationfor accessing the shared page.

In that case, it is preferable that the sharee information includeslayout information of the at least one sharee, and the sharinginformation creating means lays out the images to be shared inaccordance with the layout information.

It is preferable that the saving device for image sharing of the presentinvention comprises a sharing information storing means configured tostore the sharing information.

It is also preferable that the saving device for image sharing of thepresent invention comprises a sharing information sending meansconfigured to send the sharing information to the at least one sharee.

Preferably, the saving device for image sharing of the present inventioncomprises a completion reporting means configured to report completionof sharing to the at least one sharer after transmission of the sharinginformation to the at least one sharee.

In that case, a completion report includes at least one of informationrelated to shared images, information related to images not shared, andinformation related to the at least one sharee.

The saving device for image sharing of the present invention ispreferably an image sharing server in which the images uploaded by thesharer can be saved and accessibly shared among the at least one sharee,with the image acquiring means acquiring the images uploaded by thesharer.

It is also preferable that the saving device for image sharing of thepresent invention further comprises: a shared image informationcollecting means configured to collect information on the images to beshared; a sharee information collecting means configured to collect thesharee information with respect to the at least one sharee; a sharinginformation extracting means configured to extract, from the informationon the images to be shared that is collected by the shared imageinformation collecting means and the information with respect to the atleast one sharee that is collected by the sharee information collectingmeans, information concerning the images to be shared in which the atleast one sharee has interest as sharing information specific to the atleast one sharee; and a sharing information notifying means configuredto notify the at least one sharee of the sharing information extractedby the sharing information extracting means.

In order to achieve the objects as described before, the presentinvention also provides a saving device for image sharing in whichimages offered by a sharer of the images for image sharing can be savedand accessibly shared among at least one sharee, comprising: an imagesharing means configured to share the images offered by the sharer amongthe at least one sharee as images to be shared; a shared imageinformation collecting means configured to collect information on theimages to be shared; a sharee information collecting means configured tocollect information on the at least one sharee; a sharing informationextracting means configured to extract, from the information on theimages to be shared that is collected by the shared image informationcollecting means and the information on the at least one sharee that iscollected by the sharee information collecting means, informationconcerning the images to be shared in which the at least one sharee hasinterest as sharing information specific to the at least one sharee; anda sharing information notifying means configured to notify the at leastone sharee of the sharing information extracted by the sharinginformation extracting means.

In order to achieve the objects as above, the present invention alsoprovides an image sharing system in which a sharer of images offers theimages for image sharing so that the images can be accessibly sharedamong at least one sharee, comprising: the saving device for imagesharing of the present invention as described above; and a terminal ofthe at least one sharee that accesses images shared on the saving devicefor image sharing.

Preferably, the image sharing system of the present invention furthercomprises: a terminal of the sharer that saves and uploads onto thesaving device for image sharing the images; and a network on which thesaving device for image sharing is disposed, and the terminal of thesharer and the terminal of the at least one sharee are connected withthe saving device for image sharing through the network.

In order to achieve the objects as above, the present invention alsoprovides an image sharing method in which images offered by a sharer ofthe images for image sharing can be saved and accessibly shared among atleast one sharee in a saving device for image sharing, comprising thesteps of: acquiring the images offered by the sharer; assessing whetheror not the acquired images include a person subject; associating imagesassessed as not including a person subject with images assessed asincluding a person subject based on sharee information with respect tothe at least one sharee that has been stored in advance; and determiningimages to be shared with the at least one sharee from the associatedimages based on the sharee information.

The saving device for image sharing to be used is preferably an imagesharing server disposed on a network, in which the images uploaded bythe sharer can be saved and accessibly shared among the at least onesharee. In that case, in the step of acquiring the images, the imagesuploaded by the sharer are acquired.

Preferably, the image sharing method of the present invention furthercomprises the steps of: collecting information on the images to beshared; collecting information on the at least one sharee; extracting,from the collected information on the images to be shared and thecollected information on the at least one sharee, information concerningthe images to be shared in which the at least one sharee has interest assharing information specific to the at least one sharee; and notifyingthe at least one sharee of the sharing information as extracted.

The image sharing method of the present invention preferably comprisesthe steps of: classifying the images assessed as including a personsubject for each person subject; and extracting them as included inidentical subject groups. In that case, it is preferable that the shareeinformation includes a face image, and the inventive method furthercomprises the step of identifying a person subject based on an image inone of the identical subject groups and the face image of the shareeinformation.

It is also preferable that the image sharing method of the presentinvention comprises the step of automatically determining andmaintaining as the sharee information a level with respect to theidentified person subject based on identification results of the personsubject.

Preferably, in the image sharing method of the present invention,sharing rules as conditions for determining images to be shared with theat least one sharee are stored in advance, and the images to be sharedare determined based on the sharee information and the sharing rules.The sharing rules are preferably registered or updated by the at leastone sharer of the images to be shared.

In the inventive method, it is preferable that the sharing informationto be transmitted to the at least one sharee is automatically created,based on the images to be shared and the sharee information, and thentransmitted to the sharee(s). The sharing information preferablyincludes a shared page in which the shared images are laid out in analbum format, and access information for accessing the shared page.

In that case, it is preferable that the sharee information includeslayout information of the at least one sharee, and the images to beshared are laid out in accordance with the layout information.

In the image sharing method of the present invention, moreover, it ispreferable that completion of sharing is reported to the at least onesharer after transmission of the sharing information to the at least onesharee. In that case, a completion report includes at least one ofinformation related to shared images, information related to images notshared, and information related to the at least one sharee.

Finally, in order to achieve the objects as described before, thepresent invention provides an image sharing method in which imagesoffered by a sharer of the images for image sharing can be saved andaccessibly shared among at least one sharee, comprising the steps of:sharing the images offered by the sharer among the at least one shareeas images to be shared; collecting information on the images to beshared; collecting information on the at least one sharee; extracting,from the collected information on the images to be shared and thecollected information on the at least one sharee, information concerningthe images to be shared in which the at least one sharee has interest assharing information specific to the at least one sharee; and notifyingthe at least one sharee of the sharing information as extracted.

According to the saving device for image sharing, image sharing systemand image sharing method of the present invention, in a case where alarge volume image group is to be classified on a per user (sharee)basis, the images related to each user can be automatically classifiedand shared, even for those images that do not include a person. Withthis arrangement, regardless of whether or not a person is included inthe image, images corresponding to each user can be easily shared,making it possible to share a larger number of user-preferred images anduser-associated images.

Further, according to the present invention, the classified image datais automatically shared in a state in which the images have been laidout and edited as a page of an album, making image browsing andmanagement very easy in comparison to conventional methods whereby imagedata only is simply delivered.

According to the present invention, moreover, the information which canbe extracted automatically from the shared image or album information,that is to say, the information in which the sharee has interest, isadded to the information to be given, which makes it possible toascertain with ease, namely, without following the sharing path, whatimages have been shared.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the deviceconfiguration of an image sharing system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration ofa saving device for image sharing of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of sharee information;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a method fordetermining the sharee level;

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a method for extracting imagesassociated with a sharee;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the first part of the flowof an image sharing method of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the second part of the flowof the image sharing method of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of theconfiguration of a saving device for image sharing of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing exemplary results of the extraction of theshared image information and the sharee information in the saving devicefor image sharing as shown in FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the process fornotification by the saving device for image sharing as shown in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following describes in detail a saving device for image sharing ofthe present invention, which achieves an image sharing method of thepresent invention, as well as an image sharing system that utilizes thisdevice, based on the preferred embodiments shown in the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the deviceconfiguration of an image sharing system of the present invention.

An image sharing system 10 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a sharing server12, a personal computer (hereinafter “PC”) 14 owned by an owner(hereinafter “sharer”) of shared images, a terminal 16 owned by a shareewho is to be a co-owner of the shared images, and an image server 18.

The PC 14 uploads the images to be shared to the sharing server 12.While a conventional PC is used as the PC 14 in the present embodiment,the present invention is not limited thereto. Various types of devicescan be used as long as the device is a terminal capable of saving imagedata and uploading the saved image data to the sharing server 12.

The terminal 16 is a terminal capable of browsing shared images from thesharing server 12. Various devices capable of browsing images via anetwork, such as a PC, cellular telephone, or portable terminal, may beused as the terminal 16. Further, in a case where a plurality of shareesexists, a plurality of terminals 16 may also exist.

The image server 18 is a server that saves images to be uploaded to thesharing server 12 and used as shared images. The image server 18 is notparticularly limited. Any device capable of saving images and sendingthe saved images to the sharing server 12 via a network can be used.Further, a plurality of image servers 18 may also exist.

In the image sharing system 10, the sharing server 12 shares imagesacquired from the PC 14 of the sharer or from the image server 18 withthe terminal 16 as shared images.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration ofthe sharing server (hereinafter “server”) 12, which is a saving devicefor image sharing of the present invention.

The server 12 shown in FIG. 2 comprises image acquiring means 22,subject assessing means 24, subject identifying means 26, shareeinformation storing means 28, image associating means 30, shared imagedetermining means 32, sharing rule storing means 34, shared pagecreating means 36, shared page sending means 38, and completionreporting means 40.

The image acquiring means 22 acquires image data uploaded to the imagestoring server on the network. The method of image uploading is notparticularly limited. Any of the known various methods may be used. Forexample, the sharer may upload images saved on his/her PC 14 to theserver 12. Or, the sharer may upload images saved on the image server 18or images stored on a digital camera. The image acquiring means 22acquires the image data uploaded to the server 12.

The image acquiring means 22 sends the acquired images to the subjectassessing means 24.

The subject assessing means 24 subjects the images received from theimage acquiring means 22 to face extraction processing, and assesses theface-extracted images as images that include a person as the subject.Furthermore, the subject assessing means 24, based on this assessmentresult, classifies all received images into images that include a personand images that do not include a person, and sends these images and theclassification results to the subject identifying means 26.

The subject identifying means 26 performs face recognition processing onthose images received from the subject assessing means 24 that have beenassessed as images that include a person, and identifies and classifiesthe person subjects into groups per person subject.

Identification of the person subjects is performed based on shareeinformation, which is information of the sharees who are to be theco-owners of the shared images. The method of identifying the personsubjects will be described later.

The sharee information storing means 28 is a database that storesinformation of sharees who are to be co-owners when images are shared bythe image sharing system 10.

In the sharee information storing means 28 is registered in advanceinformation, such as the ID, face image, and shared image deliverydestination information of each sharee, as sharee information. Thisinformation can be added and updated as necessary. The shareeinformation, as described above, is used by the subject identifyingmeans 26 to identify person subjects, and by the image associating means30 to perform processing described later.

FIG. 3 shows an example of sharee information stored in the shareeinformation storing means 28.

In this embodiment, sharee IDs, representative images, deliverydestination information, sharee levels, sex, layout preferences, andpreferred image keywords are registered and stored as shareeinformation.

The sharee ID is an ID unique to the sharee, and is automaticallyuniquely set by the sharee information storing means 28 when shareeinformation is registered.

The representative image is a face image of the sharee. Therepresentative image is used when the subject identifying means 26identifies the person subject. That is, the subject identifying means 26compares the face image in an image extracted by the subject assessingmeans 24 with the representative image stored as sharee information, andassesses whether or not the face images are of the same person. Thisassessment may be performed by known face recognition processing.

A plurality of representative images may be registered for a singlesharee. In a case where a plurality of representative images are stored,a priority number for each representative image is set. Examples ofstandards for setting the priority numbers for representative imagesinclude images of the face straight on, images taken recently, imagestaken on a date closer to that of the image to be compared, images of aface size greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and imagesof a quality greater than or equal to a certain level. The prioritynumbers may be set so that those images that enable comparison withgreater accuracy are given higher priority numbers.

Further, the representative images are updated occasionally as needed.This point will be described later.

The delivery destination information is the transmission destinationinformation used when the shared page creating means 36 described laterarranges shared images to be shared with a sharee and sends the accessinformation for accessing the created shared page to the sharee. In thisembodiment, an e-mail address is registered as the delivery destinationinformation as an example. With this arrangement, the access informationfor accessing the shared page created in accordance with the sharee isdelivered to the delivery destination information corresponding to thesharee.

The sharee level is automatically set in accordance with therelationship between the sharer and the sharee.

The sharee level is set based on the distance between the sharer and thesharee when the two are included together in an image, and based on thenumber of images that include the two together in the same image, forexample, and is set higher in a case where the two are photographedclose together, and in a case where there are many images that includethe two together. Further, the sharee level is set lower in a case wherethe two are photographed farther apart, and in a case where there arefew images that include the two together.

Further, the sharee level may be set not only between the sharer andsharee, but also between sharees.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the sharer A and the sharee B arephotographed together in all images, with a short distance between thetwo, resulting in a sharee B sharee level of “High.” On the other hand,there is one image of sharee C and sharer A together, but in the imagethe two are separated by distance, resulting in a sharee C sharee levelof “Medium.”

The sharee level is automatically set and updated when a person subjectis identified by the subject identifying means 26.

The sex of a sharee is also registered.

The preferred layout information is information pertaining to thepreferred layout of the album on the network that is owned by thesharee. Matching the preferred layout information to the settings of thealbum owned by the sharee makes it possible to arrange the layout of theshared page with the other pages of the album owned by the sharee.

While the items set as preferred layout information are not particularlylimited, the items may include, for example, the color and pattern type,etc., of the photo mount, the frame type, and whether or not there isany trimming. When shared images are laid out on a page of an album tocreate a shared page, a page corresponding to the preferences of thesharee is created based on the preferred layout information of thesharee.

The preferred image keywords related to the preferred images of thesharee are also registered. A registered keyword may be, for example,“flower” if the sharee likes flowers or “car” if the sharee likes cars.The registered keyword does not need to be a name of an object, but maybe a color such as “red” or “blue,” or a scenic backdrop such as“night.”

The image associating means 30 is for associating an image assessed asnot including a person by the subject assessing means 24 with an imageassessed as including a person.

The image associating means 30 retrieves the sharee information ofperson subjects identified and classified into groups by the subjectidentifying means 26 from the sharee information storing means 28. Basedon the photograph information of each image and the retrieved shareeinformation, the image associating means 30 then extracts the images tobe associated with or related to an identified person subject and theimages corresponding to the preferences of the person subject from theimages assessed as not including a person, and classifies these imagesas images associated with the identified person subject.

Image association will now be described in detail with reference to FIG.5.

In FIG. 5, the images encircled by a solid line are images classified asa group that includes sharee B as a person subject identified by thesubject identifying means 26, and are all images that include sharee B.

First, using the photograph information of each image, the imageassociating means 30 extracts information associated with the personsubjects. Here, if the difference between the time at which an imagethat does not include a person was taken and the time at which an imageclassified into the group was taken is within a certain range, the imageassociating means 30 assesses that the image that does not include aperson is associated with the identified person subject of theclassified image, and classifies that image into that group. Forexample, in FIG. 5, given a time difference range of two hours, theimage encircled by an alternate long and short dashed line was takenwithin just an hour from the image on the left and, thus, the two imagesare assessed as associated and classified into the group of sharee B.

Next, using the sharee information of the identified person subjectcorresponding to the classified group, the image associating means 30extracts the preferred images of the sharee.

In FIG. 5, the sharee information of sharee B corresponds to sharee ID“00001” of FIG. 3. The preferred image keywords of sharee B are “plants”and “flowers.”

Based on these keywords, the image associating means 30 extracts imagesof flowers from the images that do not include a person, and classifiesthese images as preferred images of sharee B. In FIG. 5, the two imagesencircled by a dashed line are images of flowers. These images,therefore, are extracted as preferred images of sharee B and classifiedinto the group of sharee B.

Further, the preferred image keyword is not limited to the name of asubject, but may also be a color and so forth. For example, when “pink”is registered as a keyword, an image with a large pink area may beextracted and classified as an image associated with sharee B, based onthe color information that results from image analysis.

Image extraction based on preferred image keywords may be performed byanalyzing images using a known method and searching for associatedimages based on image characteristics, or by adding scene information orkeywords to each image as tag information in advance at the time theimage is taken and comparing those keywords with the preferred imagekeywords provided in the sharee information.

As described above, the associated images and preferred images of shareeB are then classified into a group.

The shared image determining means 32 determines the images to be sharedwith the sharee from among the images classified into groups on a perperson subject basis by the subject identifying means 26 and the imageassociating means 30. The shared images are determined based on sharingrules stored in the sharing rules storing means 34 described later.

Here, the image sharing system 10 of the present invention automaticallyshares all classified images with sharees that correspond to the images.However, there are also cases where the classified images include poorlyphotographed images, and the sharer may not want to set all images asimages subject to sharing. In such a case, to assess whether or not animage is subject to sharing, the sharer registers conditions for imagesharing in advance as sharing rules.

An example of a sharing rule includes a setting that first indicateswhether all images are to be subject to sharing or whether only thoseimages that match specific conditions are to be subject to sharing. In acase where all images are to be subject to sharing, all imagesclassified in the system are shared.

On the other hand, in a case where only images that match specificconditions are to be subject to sharing, conditions for image sharingare further set.

Such conditions may include, for example, a setting that indicates thatonly images that include a person are to be subject to sharing. Further,in a case where an image includes a person, whether or not the image isto be shared may be set in accordance with the photograph quality of theidentified person, such as the sharer, the sharee, or another personsubject. For example, a setting may be set so that a poor quality image,such as a blurred image, red eye image, sideways image, or non-smilingimage, of the identified person is not shared. Or, a setting may be setso that an image is not shared if all person subjects in the image areof poor photograph quality.

Furthermore, in the case of an image that does not include a person, asetting may be set so that the image is shared if the image is notblurry, or if the image has been extracted by the image associatingmeans 30 based on photograph information, or if the image has beenextracted by the image associating means 30 based on sharee information,for example.

Setting the sharing rules in advance in this manner makes it possiblefor the sharer to extract and share images that will be received morefavorably and with greater joy by the sharee.

The sharing rules are stored in the sharing rule storing means 34. Thesharing rules may be uniquely set in the system, or may be setdifferently on a per sharer basis. The sharing rules may also besuitably changed as needed.

The shared page creating means 36 automatically lays out the sharedimages determined by the shared image determining means 32 in albumformat so as to create the page to be shared with the sharee.

This layout may be carried out based on the sharee level and preferredlayout information of the sharee stored in the sharee informationstoring means 28. That is, the page is created using a layout thatmatches the preferred layout information of the sharee. Further, theimages may be arranged so that images of persons having a high shareelevel based on the sharee level information are included on the samepage, for example.

The shared page creating means 36 comprises a function that sets accessdestination information, such as the URL for accessing the shared pagecreated, and a function that associates the set access destinationinformation with the shared page and stores the result as sharinginformation.

The shared page sending Means 38 notifies the sharee that a shared pagehas been created. The shared page sending means 38 notifies the shareeof the access destination information created by the shared pagecreating means 36 as the sharing notifying information, via known meanssuch as e-mail.

The completion reporting means 40 reports that all processing has beencompleted to the sharer when the sharee has been notified by the sharedpage sending means 38. The reporting method is not particularly limited,and any known means such as e-mail may be used.

Next, the image sharing method of the present invention, and thespecific action of a system that uses an image sharing server of thepresent invention which achieves the inventive method will be describedbased on the flowcharts of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.

First, in step S10 of FIG. 6, the sharer uploads the images he or shewants to share to the server. The uploaded images are acquired by theimage acquiring means 22 and transmitted to the subject assessing means24. Next, in step S12, each acquired image is assessed as to whether ornot the image includes a person by the subject assessing means 24.

In a case where the image includes a person (in the case of “Yes” instep S12), the image is classified into a group of images that includethe same face by face recognition processing in step S14. Furthermore,in step S16, the person subjects are identified per classified group.

Identification of person subjects is performed by the subjectidentifying means 26 by executing face recognition processing based onsharee information.

As described above, face images of the sharees are registered asrepresentative images in sharee information. The subject identifyingmeans 26 compares the representative image of each sharee with the faceextracted from the image, and assesses whether or not the two personsare the same.

In a case where there is a plurality of representative images of onesharee, the subject identifying means 26 repeatedly conducts suchcomparisons based on a priority order, such as in the sequence of thesharee representative image having priority number 1, the shareerepresentative image having priority number 2, etc., until the subjectidentifying means 26 can assess that the persons are the same.

When such comparisons are repeated and it is found that a representativeimage of a person matching the face in the image does not exist evenafter comparisons have been made with all representative images of thesharees (in the case of “No” in step S18), the subject identifying means26 assesses that sharee information is not registered for that personand notifies the sharer accordingly, prompting the sharer to registernew sharee information (step S20). This notification may be performed byany applicable known notifying means, such as screen display or audio.

The sharer who receives the notification then registers shareeinformation for the person subject using the image used for comparisonby the subject identifying means 26 as the representative image (stepS22). Note that the representative image used for new registration isnot limited to that image, and may be newly uploaded by the sharer, forexample.

According to the above-described processing, images that include aperson are classified into groups per person subject, and the person ofeach group is identified.

Next, the images that do not include a person are classified into thesegroups on a per person subject basis.

For those images assessed as not including a person in step S12 (in thecase of “No” in step S12), the images associated with the sharee of eachgroup identified by the subject identifying means 26 are extracted andclassified into each group by the image associating means 30 (step S24).Furthermore, the image associating means 30 extracts the preferredimages of each sharee and similarly classifies those images into eachgroup (step S26).

After the images that do not include a person are also classified intoeach group as described above, the shared images per sharee aredetermined in step S28 of FIG. 7. Here, the images from among the imagesclassified into each group per identified person subject that are to beshared with a sharee are determined based on sharing rules. With thisarrangement, the images of poor photograph quality of the sharer or thesharee, etc., can be excluded, making it possible to establish onlythose images that will be enjoyed by the sharee as the images to beshared.

In a case where a more suitable image than the current image registeredas the first representative image of a sharee is found during therepeated comparisons performed by the subject identifying means 26, itis advantageous to automatically change the first representative imageto that image or to automatically change the priority order. To thisend, when the images to be shared are determined and there is a moresuitable image for the representative image in step S30 (in the case of“Yes”), the representative image stored in the sharee informationregistering means 28 is updated (step S32). The decision as to whetheror not the representative image is to be updated may be made during theprocessing performed by the subject identifying means 26.

With this arrangement, the subject is always identified using the mostpreferred image as the representative image.

Next, in step S34, the shared page of the sharee is created. The sharedpage is created by automatically arranging the shared images determinedin step S28 on an album page. Furthermore, in step S36, the shared pageis automatically laid out. The layout is made based on the preferredlayout information stored in the sharee information storing means 28.The preferred layout information includes, for example, the color andpattern of the photo mount, the frame type, whether or not there is anytrimming, and its shape. The shared page creating means 36 creates theshared page based on this information using a preferred layout of thesharee.

When the shared page is created, a notification indicating that theshared page was created is automatically sent by e-mail, etc., to thesharee in step S38. At this time, the sharee is notified of the additionalong with the method for accessing the shared page, such as the URL foraccessing the shared page.

The sharee who receives the notification can then access the shared pagein accordance with the contents of the notification, and then freelybrowse the shared page.

When all processing is completed, the completion reporting means 40reports completion of the sharing process to the sharer.

In this manner, according to the image sharing system of the presentinvention, it is possible to extract and share images associated with asharee and images preferred by a sharee, even if the images do notinclude a person. Furthermore, a shared page can be created according tothe preferred layout of each sharee. As a result, images can be sharedin an easy to view format that matches the preferences of the sharee, inaccordance with each sharee.

In the embodiment as described above, the sharee is automaticallynotified by e-mail or the like that a shared page or the like has beencreated. According to the present invention, the notification may bemade along with additional information varying from sharee to sharee,especially that of preference or strong preference, preferably ofstrongest preference, or again, of interest or high interest, preferablyof highest interest for the relevant sharee.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of theconfiguration of the saving device for image sharing of the presentinvention that is capable of additionally notifying of informationvarying from sharee to sharee when an image or electronic album isshared.

As shown in FIG. 8, an image server 50, which serves as the savingdevice for image sharing in this embodiment, comprises an image sharingmeans 52, a shared image information collecting means 54, a shareeinformation collecting means 56, a sharing information extracting means58, and a sharing information notifying means 60.

The image sharing means 52 is adapted to save the images offered by thesharer thereof for image sharing, and accessibly share them among atleast one sharee. In the present invention, the image sharing means 52is preferably the server 12 of FIG. 2, but the present invention is notlimited thereto. Any means capable of sharing images by some method orother including conventional ones may be utilized as long as it acquiresthe images, which are offered by the sharer thereof for image sharing,as the images to be shared with the sharee or sharees, saves theacquired images to be shared, and makes the acquired and saved images tobe shared sharable among the sharee(s) in an accessible manner.

The shared image information collecting means 54 is adapted to extractand collect the information on the images to be shared in the imagesharing means 52 and the information related therewith as the sharedimage information under specified conditions associated with the sharee,as well as to classify the images to be shared, and extract and collectthe classification information. The shared image information collectingmeans 54 has one or more of the following functions as seen from theresults of shared image information extraction shown in FIG. 9, forinstance, and includes means for realizing such function(s): comparingan image to be shared with the image registered in advance in the imagesharing means 52 (sharee information storing means 28 of the server 12)as the sharee information so as to count images containing the sharee;comparing the shared image information with the preferred image keywordsalso registered in advance as the sharee information so as to countimages in which the sharee has interest; and extracting and collectingvarious kinds of information based on the meta-information on an image,such as image size, image-taking date, and image-taking place (GPSinformation).

In other words, examples of the shared image information to be extractedby the shared image information collecting means 54 include the numberof the images containing the sharee, the number of the images preferredby the sharee, the number of the images preferred by the sharee andcontaining the sharee, the size of the shared images, the date on whichthe shared images have been taken, and the place where the shared imageshave been taken, as shown in FIG. 9. The present invention, however, isnot limited to the above, and any information is thinkable as the sharedimage information as long as it can be extracted from the images to beshared and the related information associated therewith in relation tothe sharee.

The sharee information collecting means 56 is adapted to collect theinformation on sharees. The sharee information collecting means 56 hasat least either of the function of extracting and collecting the shareeinformation (profile information of the sharee, for instance) asregistered in advance in the image sharing means 52 (sharee informationstoring means 28 of the server 12), and the function of collectinginformation from the album information owned by the sharee, and includesmeans for realizing such function(s).

In other words, examples of the sharee information to be extracted bythe sharee information collecting means 56 include the image size (whichtype of image size is most found), the image-taking date (on what date(in what period) the most images have been taken), and the image-takingplace (in what place the most images have been taken), as seen from theresults of sharee information extraction shown in FIG. 9. The presentinvention, however, is not limited to the above, and any information isthinkable as the sharee information as long as it can be extracted fromthe information associated with the sharee.

The sharing information extracting means 58 is adapted to extract, fromthe shared image information collected by the shared image informationcollecting means 54 and the sharee information collected by the shareeinformation collecting means 56, information concerning the images to beshared in which the sharee has interest as the sharing informationspecific to the sharee, with the extraction being carried out in a persharee manner. The sharing information extracting means 58 combines theshared image information and the sharee information to extract theinformation which is optimal for the sharee, that is to say, theinformation varying from sharee to sharee, especially that of preferenceor strong preference, preferably of strongest preference, or again, ofinterest or high interest, preferably of highest interest for therelevant sharee.

As seen from the results of shared image information extraction andsharee information extraction shown in FIG. 9, for instance, the sharinginformation extracting means 58 considers the information, for which thesharee wants/seeks most, to be the information in which the sharee hasinterest, and extracts it as the “sharing information,” or concludesfrom the pieces (1) and (2) of the shared image information that theinformation piece (3) pleases the sharee most, and extracts the imageinformation (3) as the “sharing information” in such a manner that itmay be most conspicuous, or the like. The image information (3) may bemade conspicuous by putting it at the head of an album, incorporatingthe thumbnail-form list of the images in question into the informationto be given by e-mail and so forth, or by including in the informationto be given such text information as the title or tag of an image.

The sharing information notifying means 60 is adapted to notify thesharee (terminal 16) of the sharing information extracted by the sharinginformation extracting means 58. The sharing information notifying means60 may notify the sharee of the sharing information by e-mail, or in anRSS (RDF Site Summary) format when the sharee gets access to the network(web site).

The image server 50 in this embodiment of the present invention has sucha fundamental configuration as above.

Next, the image server 50 in this embodiment of the present invention,specific actions of the image sharing system using the server 50, andthe image sharing method of the invention are described in reference tothe flowchart of FIG. 10 showing an example of the process fornotification by the saving device for image sharing.

In step S50, the images offered by the sharer thereof for image sharingare acquired as the images to be shared with the sharee.

In step S52, the acquired images to be shared are saved.

Subsequently, in step S54, the acquired and saved images to be sharedare made sharable among the sharee(s) in an accessible manner.

By these steps S50 through S54, the sharer of images can share theimages with the sharee.

The steps as above are effected by the image sharing means 52 of theimage server 50 of the invention, preferably by the server 12 of FIG. 2,but the present invention is not limited thereto. Any device to which aknown sharing method is applied may also be employed.

In the next step S56, the shared image information is collected withrespect to the images to be shared. Collecting of the shared imageinformation in step S56 is carried out by the shared image informationcollecting means 54.

In step S58, information on the sharee is collected by the shareeinformation collecting means 56.

In step S60, from the shared image information on the images to beshared that has been collected by the shared image informationcollecting means 54 and the sharee information on the sharee that hasbeen collected by the sharee information collecting means 56, theinformation concerning the images to be shared in which the sharee hasinterest is extracted by the sharing information extracting means 58 asthe information specific to the sharee.

Thereafter, the image server 50 (server 12) notifies the sharee(terminal 16) of the sharing information extracted by the sharinginformation extracting means 58 by e-mail or the like.

The image sharing method of the present invention has such a fundamentalconfiguration as above.

While, in the embodiments as described above, the image sharing system10 comprises the server 12 arranged on a network, the PC 14 of thesharer, the terminal 16 of the sharee, and the image server 18, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. In the case where the imagesto be shared are to be uploaded from the PC 14 of the sharer to theserver 12, the image server 18 may be omitted. In that case, the imageacquiring means 22 of the server 12 acquires the image data on theimages saved in the PC 14 of the sharer through the network.

In the image sharing system 10 of the present invention, the images tobe shared are saved and accessibly shared among the terminal(s) 16 ofthe sharee(s) by the server 12 on the network. The present invention isnot limited to the above, and the images to be shared may be saved andaccessibly shared among the terminal(s) 16 of the sharee(s) by the PC 14of the sharer in itself, whereupon the PC 14 of the sharer and theterminal(s) 16 of the sharee(s) are connected with each other in apeer-to-peer manner as shown in FIG. 1 by a dotted line. In that case,the PC 14 of the sharer may serve as the saving device for image sharingof the present invention, and the server 12 may be omitted.

While the above has described in detail the image sharing server,system, and method of the present invention, note that the presentinvention is not limited to the above embodiments and variousmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method comprising:determining, by a computer system, a sharee level based on (a)identification of a person subject in one or more images, (b) a distancebetween a sharer and a sharee wherein the sharer and the sharee areincluded together in the one or more images, and (c) a number of imagesthat include the sharee and the sharer together in the one or moreimages; and sharing, by the computer system, an album page of the sharerwith the sharee based on the sharee level.
 2. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the determining a sharee level comprisessetting the sharee level to one of a plurality of values.
 3. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining a shareelevel comprises setting the sharee level to a value of high, medium, orlow.
 4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein thedetermining a sharee level comprises at least one of: setting a value ofthe sharee level higher as the number of images that include the shareeand the sharer together increases; and setting the value of the shareelevel lower as the number of images that include the sharee and thesharer together decreases.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim1, wherein the determining a sharee level comprises at least one of:setting a value of the sharee level higher as the distance between asharer and a sharee decreases; and setting the value of the sharee levellower as the distance between a sharer and a sharee increases.
 6. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the album page matches alayout preferred by the sharee.
 7. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the sharing an album page of the sharer with the shareeis further based on sharing rules applicable to images for presentationin the album page.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 7,wherein the sharing rules are based on whether an image depicting aperson includes at least one of a blurred image, a red eye image, asideways image, and a non-smiling image.
 9. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the sharee level is updated when the personsubject is identified.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 1,further comprising notifying the sharee of creation of the album pageassociated with a URL.
 11. The computer implemented method of claim 1,wherein images of sharees having a sharee level of high are included ona same page.
 12. A non-transitory computer storage medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computersystem to perform computer-implemented method comprising: determining asharee level based on (a) identification of a person subject in one ormore images, (b) a distance between a sharer and a sharee wherein thesharer and the sharee are included together in the one or more images,and (c) a number of images that include the sharee and the sharertogether in the one or more images; and sharing an album page of thesharer with the sharee based on the sharee level.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining a shareelevel comprises setting the sharee level to one of a plurality ofvalues.
 14. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 12,wherein the determining a sharee level comprises setting the shareelevel to a value of high, medium, or low.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer storage medium of claim 12, wherein the determining a shareelevel comprises at least one of: setting a value of the sharee levelhigher as the number of images that include the sharee and the sharertogether increases; and setting the value of the sharee level lower asthe number of images that include the sharee and the sharer togetherdecreases.
 16. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 12,wherein the determining a sharee level comprises at least one of:setting a value of the sharee level higher as the distance between asharer and a sharee decreases; and setting the value of the sharee levellower as the distance between a sharer and a sharee increases.
 17. Asystem comprising: at least one processor, and a memory storinginstructions configured to instruct the at least one processor toperform: determining a sharee level based on (a) identification of aperson subject in one or more images, (b) a distance between a sharerand a sharee wherein the sharer and the sharee are included together inthe one or more images, and (c) a number of images that include thesharee and the sharer together in the one or more images; and sharing analbum page of the sharer with the sharee based on the sharee level. 18.The system of claim 17, wherein the album page matches a layoutpreferred by the sharee.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the shareelevel is updated when the person subject is identified.
 20. The systemof claim 17, wherein images of sharees having a sharee level of high areincluded on a same page.